1. Field:
The present invention relates generally to portable bags or cases for transportation and storage of personal articles such as toiletry articles.
2. State of the Art:
Utility traveling cases and bags of various sizes, shapes and designs are well-known in the art. Some of these cases are designed to hold personal items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, shaving cream and feminine hygiene articles. For example, applicant is aware of the following patents, each of which disclose small, relatively stiff, carrying cases: Whippo, U.S. Pat. No. 2,764,201; Nelson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,661,824; and Stanley, U.S. Pat. No. 1,722,507.
More recently, a rectangular utility bag designed to fit into an athletic locker or under the seat of an airplane has been disclosed in Pratt, U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,008. The Pratt bag comprises a body portion including two spaced, rigid, rectangular frame members surrounded by fabric walls, and an outwardly swinging rectangular fabric door attached in hinge-like fashion along one elongate edge thereof to a sidewall edge of the body portion.
Because all of these prior art diclosures are substantially rigid, they are not as compatible to space economy during travel as might be desirable. For example, even if a traveller only requires a fraction of the space available in a generally rigid case of the prior art, the unused space still consumes a predetermined volume, whether contained within a larger carrying cases or carried separately.
Flexible utility cases for personal items are also known in the art. However, while such flexible cases solve the problem of space economy, by expanding and contracting according to the size, shape and amount of the contents, they offer little or no protection for the contents as the cases are completely flexible and the contents are usually held together in a single compartment. Because of this the contents are subject to breakage as the cases are subjected to the bumps and jolts that usually accompany travel. More fragile items, therefore, are advisably left at home or specially wrapped or prepared for travel.